The 2014 Emerging EMEA Research Team: Utlities, No. 3: Piotr Dzięciołowski & team

Despite a change in its leadership, the Citi squad holds on to the No. 3 position on this lineup for a third straight year. In September,Piotr Dzięciołowskijoined the firm from Credit Suisse and promptly took the reins formerly held by Piotr Zielonka, who jumped to Polish brokerage Ipopema Securities. Warsaw-based Dzięciołowski observes that the region’s utilities are facing major structural changes because of falling commodities prices and the rise of production from renewable resources, like wind and solar. Consequently, thermal-generation assets are in a difficult operational and financial position, he advises, and the industry is discussing such remedies as the introduction of markets where capacity would be traded. “It is unclear what shape new regulations will eventually take, especially in light of customers’ resistance to accepting higher power bills,” explains Dzięciołowski, “but it looks like some normalization of future generated returns is inevitable.” Regarding specific stocks, the analysts are recommending that investors buy Poland’s Energa, the country’s third-largest electricity provider. They anticipate that Energa’s regulated distribution network will deliver stable returns and note that management is gearing up its balance sheet to pay dividends. The shares closed May at 18.89 złoty, just shy of the Citi team’s 19 złoty target price.